Spocko Takes On The Mouse - CBS News, 1/10/07

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CBS News, 1/10/07
Spocko Takes On The Mouse (scroll down)

There's nothing like a blogger being shut down by a major company to spark intrigue and support in the blogosphere. Media critic Spocko became one of the most searched people on Technorati after his blog, Spocko's Brain, was shut down by The Walt Disney Company. The company said he violated its copyright by posting on his blog audio files from right-wing San Francisco talk radio station KSFO.

Spocko recorded the programming to point out, he says, that the station spreads hatred directed at politicians, journalists, minorities, and Muslims. He also sent letters to the station's advertisers, urging them to withdraw their sponsorship because of the program's content, directing them to his blog to hear the audio files. A spokesperson for Spocko's internet provider said the company gave Spocko one week to remove the material — after receiving a cease-and-desist letter from ABC Radio — and when he did not, took down his site.

Spocko's blog is back online now, after several bloggers from around the world posted the disputed audio files, perhaps to provoke Disney.

Full Story: Spocko Takes On The Mouse (scroll down)

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More on this story from The New York Times:

Bloggers Take on Talk Radio Hosts

By NOAM COHEN, 1/15/07

San Francisco talk radio station pre-empted three hours of programming on Friday in response to a campaign by bloggers who have recorded extreme comments by several hosts and passed on digital copies to advertisers.

KSFO-AM’s Lee Rodgers is also accused of making insensitive remarks.
The lead blogger, who uses the name Spocko, said that he and other bloggers had contacted more than 30 advertisers on KSFO-AM to inform them of comments made on the air and to ask them to pull their ads.

The comments were also posted on Spocko’s Web site, spockosbrain.com. In response, ABC Radio Networks, which owns KSFO and which in turn is owned by the Walt Disney Company, sent letters to the site’s service provider, demanding the clips be taken down from its servers. The provider complied, raising the issue of what constitutes fair use of copyrighted material by a critic.

In an unusual cap to a simmering controversy, four talk radio hosts at KSFO-AM themselves played the clips on Friday, which had, in some cases, drawn national attention for language considered racially insensitive, religiously intolerant or containing violent imagery. The broadcast contained the occasional carefully measured apology for language that “could have been put more elegantly,” as one host, Melanie Morgan, described her comment — “We’ve got a bull’s eye painted on her big wide laughing eyes” — about Nancy Pelosi, the Democratic speaker of the House of Representatives, who is from San Francisco. “But Ms. Morgan added that her words were obviously a political metaphor that had to be distorted by critics to appear violent.